/*
 * Copyright (C) 2011 xjuraj
 *
 * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 * (at your option) any later version.
 *
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU General Public License for more details.
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
package sk.lieskove.jianghongtiao.websearch.document.preprocessing.converter;

/**
 *
 * @author xjuraj
 */
public interface Converter {
    
    /**
     * Preprocess word from the file and return modified version of the word.
     * Converters are used to modify words from the text file. 
     * For example: 
     * <ul>
     *   <li>When you want to exclude word, just return empty string.</li>
     *   <li>When the word is date, provide date standardization and return it in standard form.</li>
     *   <li>When the word is compound word, split it and return both of them in 
     *       one string separated by space</li>
     *   <li>When you want to standardize word, standardize it here</li>
     * </ul>
     * 
     * @param string
     * @return 
     */
    public String convert(String string);
    
}
